According to EY's private equity monthly deal tracker, PE/VC investments till July 2018 have crossed USD 16.9 billion, 45 per cent higher compared to the same period last year.

Private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) investments totalled USD 1.5 billion in July through 63 transactions, following which the deal tally for the first seven months of this year stood at USD 16.9 billion, says a report. According to EY’s private equity monthly deal tracker, PE/VC investments till July 2018 have crossed USD 16.9 billion, 45 per cent higher compared to the same period last year.

“Notwithstanding headwinds at a global as well as the domestic level, Indian PE/VC investment activity has maintained a steady run rate so far, clocking an average of USD 2 billion worth of PE/VC investments per month in 2018,” Vivek Soni, Partner and National Leader Private Equity Services, EY said. Soni further noted that “it appears we are well on track to witness another record year for PE/VC investments in India”.

Breaking away from recent trends, July recorded fewer large size deals. There were three deals of value more than USD 100 million (cumulatively worth USD 402 million), accounting for only 26 per cent of total investments as against a 65 per cent investment share of such deals in June 2018.

TPG was the most active PE investor in July and announced four deals, including a USD 105 million investment in Sai Life Sciences for a 35 per cent stake, USD 40 million investment in e-commerce platform Livespace and co-investments with a group of other investors in online ticketing platform Bookmyshow and Five Star Business Finance Limited, a non-banking financial company (NBFC). From a sector point of view, real estate (USD 669 million) and financial services (USD 299 million) were the most active sectors in investment value terms.

In terms of number of deals, technology sector with 16 deals stood as the leader. Infrastructure and real estate sectors recorded USD 392 million in investments across five deals. The largest deal in these sectors was KKR’s USD 176 million credit investment in real estate projects of Lodha and Shapoorji Pallonji, the report added.